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Spring! It’s everywhere I go, filling me with inspiration to create in it’s image; things that are flowery & light as the breeze spreading its signature scent. Pulling weeds in my garden under the appletree, I was captivated by the subtle, sweetly-spiced scent of appleblossoms~ how to express that in a creation?

Pascal (my dog,) and I, walk daily. Camera in hand, we alternate between downtown, with its beautiful fountains & planterboxes, and Heather Farms- ( several local acres of designated open space that’s been set aside as a wildlife preserve, with walking trails, gardens, ponds, meadows and a duck-filled canal.) Spring being such a short season, my camera clicks tirelessly as we walk, attempting to preserve the beauty Spring has scattered in its wake~

Currently, everything I make reflects my experience of Spring. Looking at my photos I immediately want to make notecards~ I’m excited! Here in my hands, the pictures enable me to hold onto Spring, long after it has passed. On the trees, the wind & rain can destroy the beautiful blossoms, but here on my notecards, they are saved; preserved in all their beauty – How wonderful to be able to have Spring always within reach!

As with the notecards, my handsmocked and embroidered dresses reflect my experience of Spring- One recently finished dress, A Dressful of Blooms, was totally spring inspired. Looking at it, I recall the spicy-sweet scent of the apple blossoms on my tree. Perhaps looking at it , you too will have a sense of the flower-scent~?

Today on our walk at Heather Farms, in addition to all of the new spring flowers, resplendent under water drops left by yesterday’s rain, we witnessed a very special spring addition~

Walking down the path beside the canal I saw what looked like something moving in the grasses on the far side of the canal. I stopped to see if I could tell what was there- At first I saw the mother duck. Her dark coloring blended in so well with the hillside that she was difficult to discern at first. She was standing very still looking back at us. Incredibly, Pascal didn’t bark! Watching her, I suddenly saw movement in the grass behind her and watched in awe as 5 tiny ducklings shuffled awkwardly to get close to her. After watching us for a while, I guess she decided we didn’t pose much danger, because she started walking down the bank towards the water, the 5 little ducks following close behind~ in one straight line! Down the hill they stumbled & into the canal, gliding on the water, mom & her 5- in one straight line, swim masters already!

We followed them a short way down the canal and then stopped and watched again as the babies followed their mom out of the water, up the bank and across the path towards the larger pond~ in one straight line!

These pictures, along with others taken that day will be available on sets of notecards in my shop. Spring passes so quickly that I’m so happy to have caught at least a bit of it before we move into summer~ which I know, is lurking just around the bend~

My third series of notecards, As Scene by Rabbit Whiskers, consists of notecards with photographs of various scenes that I have found to be pretty, interesting, or both; usually things that I see while on a walk with Pascal.

Many of my photos come from my favorite “haunt,” Heather Farms. This is a huge open space park with both natural, wild environments and carefully planted and tended, beautiful gardens; a photographer’s dream place! I could go there daily forever and still see different things each time.

While a majority of the scenes on my cards come from pictures taken at Heather Farms, we also often go downtown for walks and I always encounter something unexpected there, like the koi pond that I posted photos of a few posts ago. I haven’t used them yet, but I may decide to use some of the koi pictures on notecards in the future. There are also scenes taken from my own garden as well as scenes from other places that I walk.

Do you like this cottage in the picture above? It has a rather funny story to go with it. A year and a half ago my daughter gave me this wonderful little camera for my birthday. I was so surprised and excited, I couldn’t wait to go try it out. I quickly browsed through the manual, learning just enough to know where the button was to push for a picture, and a few other basics, but otherwise, I really knew nothing about using the camera. I took Pascal, and of course my new camera, downtown for a walk the following morning.

I parked the car a few blocks outside of the central downtown area and thought we’d walk into town from there. I had walked by this old cottage many times before, and each time wished that I had a camera to take its picture. I love this cottage! So- here I was, finally! Me, Pascal, the cottage……. and my new camera! When we got to the driveway of the cottage I made Pascal sit while I pulled out my new camera and “click, click-” just like that, took a few quick pictures and continued into town, taking pictures on our way. Once home again, I downloaded the pictures to my computer and was pleased to see that yes, my picture of the cottage looked, well, just like the cottage-

Several months before I got my camera I came across a photography site online, Zytu.org that had different daily slideshows of pretty and interesting scenes; photos that I enjoyed looking at, so I added them to my homepage. After downloading my photos to the computer I decided to post my photos on the web pages Zytu offered. Now that I had a camera I thought it would be a good way to keep track of my favorite photos and also thought it would be fun to see if anyone else looked at them. In the back of my mind I remembered reading something earlier about Zytu adding some photos to its daily slideshows taken from pictures they found on the pages on their site. I didn’t really think about that when I put my pictures on their site. I just barely knew how to use my camera. My photos wouldn’t be picked.

This picture of the cottage was one of the first that I uploaded to the Zytu site. A few days later I happened to walk by my computer which I had left on my home page. My eyes hit on the zytu slide show just as the photo of the cottage flicked past! I thought I was seeing things. It couldn’t be- It must have been a photo of another cottage that was similar to the one that I took- But I waited for the twenty photos to flick by so I could see this “other” cottage again. There it was! It was no “other,” it was mine!! I was so excited, I must have watched it flick by a zillion times that afternoon.

Zytu is fun because it keeps track of how many people click on each individual picture. Not only did I never expect to see my photo in their slideshow, but everytime I think about it, it makes me laugh~ this photo of the cottage made it to their section titled, “Most Viewed Photos”- It is not only in that section, it is the first photo on the fourth row of the first page of that section, where it has been for the last year and a half! To date, this photo now has 816,889 views!! If someone had told me this was going to happen, I would never in a million years have believed them. Sometimes I wonder what the people who own that cottage would think if they were to be told that 816,889 people from all over the world have seen their home. Do you think they’d believe it?

Anyway, this cottage is also going to have a place on one of my notecards, so if you like it, it might be something to watch for~

This photo was taken at Heather Farms and is one of my favorite photos of Heather Pond. This too will be on a note card,

Does this picture look familiar to you? You may already have seen it because it ‘s one of the photos that I’ve used in a set of four blank notecards that you can find in the new notecard section of my shop. For the longest time I have wanted to make my own notecards and I’ve finally begun! My love of photography was just the motivation I needed to ignite the spark and set me off-

And set me off it did!! I spent about two weeks working until 1,2 &3:00 A.M. putting the notecards together; not because I had to, there was no great rush. I was having so much fun creating them that I lost all track of time and tightly wound myself into a sort of, creative cocoon! I couldn’t, (didn’t want to-) stop!

I wanted to group the cards so that they related to each other and could be hung as a grouping on a wall, if one preferred to use them in that way. The concept being similar I would think, to the one used in creating an Etsy treasury – (I’ve never tried creating a treasury, but I think this is the concept behind it~)

For the present, I’ve arranged my cards into three different series, each consisting of sets of four different notecards. The first series is called The Language of Flowers and consists obviously, of flower pictures or scenes; like the tulip above, this rose photo is another example of the kinds of pictures you will find in this series, either in sets that are listed now, or sets that will be listed.

When I look at my photographs of flowers, they often look to me as if they are talking, which is the reason for the series being given this title- ( Between you and I, looking at the photo of the rose above, you see the hands cupped around a mouth, as if the rose is whispering some deep dark secret- don’t you?)

I have only begun listing my sets. There are many, many more made, but not yet listed, so keep checking, because I will add new sets as these sell.

You can find my notecards listed in my website shop or in my etsy shop. I’m really, really hoping that they will sell so that I’ll be able to continue making them, as I’ve become totally addicted to my camera and to the art of making note cards! In my next post I ‘ll describe what the other two series of cards I’ve created contain and show you a few examples of those~ here are a few more previews~

To Pascal and I the distinction is pretty clear, but you’d be surprised at how many people are surprised when Pascal “Barks” instead of “Baaas”- Really!

Over the years, we have been asked so many funny questions~ If I could only get Pascal to say “Baaa” when we’re asked, it would be wonderful! I keep working on it, but so far, Pascal’s clinging to his “Bark;” loud and proud!

If only- Here- just the other day is a wonderful example of how perfect it would have been had Pascal responded, “Baaa”-

We were driving home, ( Pascal buckled into his seat belt in the front passenger seat,) and stopped at a traffic light. My window was open just a crack; just enough for the nearby sound of laughter to slip in and grab my attention. Looking in the direction of the laughter, I looked up into the truck that was stopped beside me. The woman next to the window was looking directly into my car at Pascal and I could see just the top of the driver’s head as she craned her neck amidst her laughter, to see over her passenger and into my car as well. I smiled, (their laughter making it impossible not to,) and the first woman motioned me to roll down my window . I did, knowing full well what was coming~

“Is that a lamb in the front seat with you?” she asked. They were still laughing, but I could tell they both were serious about their question. As has happened so many times in the past, all of these deliciously fun answers began competing in my mind………. pick me! pick me! Just as I was about to tell “the big lie,” Pascal decided that he’d answer the question himself~ “Bark! Bark” That made them laugh all the harder! “We thought you were driving around with a lamb in your front seat!” The light turned green and we continued on our way, their laughter echoing in my ears.

I tried once again- “Pascal, say Baaaa”- He looked at me- “Pascal,…… Baaa!” I looked at him, he looked at me,………

“Bark!”

In my last post I mentioned that I intended to add notecards to my shop. I now want to officially announce that they are here!!! To begin with, I have two series of cards, the first is called The Language Of Flowers and contains sets of 4 blank, white notecards and envelopes, measuring 5.25″x 7.25″. Each card is mounted with a different, glossy, 4″ x 6″ photograph taken by me. Each card in a set is a different card, and each set differs from the other set, so be sure when you look, to look at all four cards in the set. I have many more sets made up, waiting to be listed, so be sure to keep checking to see what I’ve added- This is the kind of picture you should expect to see in the series, The Language of Flowers~

The second series is called Notes From Rabbit Whiskers. These notecards are basically the same as the first series, except for the subject of the photographs. To anyone who knows the handsmocked, hand-embroidered girl’s dresses that I make, these might seem a bit familiar~ and very unique!

The next series is one that I haven’t composed yet, but will very soon, so keep looking! This series will have sets with photos of beautiful scenery!

I Love making these cards and can’t seem to stop. I’m very excited for you to see them, so please come and enjoy! They are listed in both my website, and my Etsy shop!!!

So——What do you think, do you like it? Would you like to see more pictures like this, and what do you think these photos would look like on blank white notecards??? Hey—–these could even be framed and hung on the wall—–what do you think??? Thoughts like this have been going through my mind for months now. I had to find out- to quench my curiousity!

In my last post I wrote that sometime in the near future I planned on adding a note card section to both my website and my etsy shop. And so I am!!! I have been working on note cards until 1:00 A.M. for the past few weeks and I think I’m finally ready to list them in my shops!

In the past, every time I’ve posted flower photos in my blog people always comment on how much they like them. Now you’ll actually have the opportunity to buy them and own them yourself or give them as gifts to somebody special! Many of the photos are pictures of flowers, but there will also be photos of——– well, it’s a surprise! You’ll just have to come see!. I think they turned out great and I’m very excited for you to come see for yourself.

This has been such a fun project. I’ve loved making the cards!! (I always knew I would~) They should be up in my shops in a day or two, so come by and take a look- I think you’ll like what you see-!